Having scored from two brilliantly taken free-kicks, East Bengal’s South Korean recruit Do Dong-hyung on Sunday said he has been idolizing Argentine star Lionel Messi and “practising” the art in “training”.
Do’s brace set up the defending champions’s 4-0 triumph over arch-rivals Mohun Bagan and enabled them lift the local league title for the sixth consecutive time.
“Well, my idol is Messi, I have been practising them (free-kicks) in training everyday,” he told reporters here in the post match media conference when asked about the sublime set pieces that rattled the net during the Calcutta Football League Premier Division A encounter.
“It was my first derby and I can’t imagine that we scored four goals. We did what we wanted to do – that is play good attacking football and I am quite happy,” Do said.
Asked if he was tense before the match, he quipped: “I was overawed by the crowd five minutes into the game, but by then I had scored.”
East Bengal coach Biswajit Bhattacharya was all smiles at the media conference. “We have come back from the dead several times in the tournament, we have twice come back from 2-0 deficits, which I think speaks volumes of the amount of work the boys have put in.”
“Credit also goes to the young players, they increased the tempo’s in today’s match. We have already secured the title but the next aim is to remain unbeaten till the end,” he added.
The champions play Southern Samity in an inconsequential last game on September 10.
(IANS)